The Cult of Byron

I spied this lithograph of George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) and his mistress Marianna Segati at a general antiques fair recently.

Lord Byron and Marianna. Lithograph with original colour by hand, by an unidentified printmaker. Possibly after William Drummond (fl. 1800-1850). [London: n.d., c.1840.]

The legendary Romantic poet is interrupted by his devoted lover as he writes to fellow poet Thomas Moore from Venice around 1817.  The letterpress caption is a quote from that very same letter, as reported by Moore in his Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (London: John Murray, 1830). Segati was Byron’s first mistress in Venice, the wife of his landlord, a draper near the Piazza San Marco. He wrote to his half-sister Augusta that “we are one of the happiest—unlawful couples this side of the Alps”, but was soon to become infatuated with Margarita Cogni, the wife of a baker.

Of course, as much as his words, the iconography of Byron shaped both perceptions in his lifetime and his legacy after his premature death of fever in Missolonghi in 1824. Famous in his lifetime after the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812), and increasingly notorious when the scathing satire Don Juan (1819-24) appeared, he became an instant legend when he gave his life in the cause of liberation (of Greece).

Printed images of Byron circulated widely during his lifetime, and increasingly throughout the European Continent after his death – portraits of Byron were probably more numerous in the middle of the 19th century than of any other individual, except perhaps Napoleon.

Thomas Phillips‘ two portraits were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1814 and caused a sensation. His Byron in exotic Albanian dress in 1814 was of particular appeal to popular Romantic sentiment and spawned a glut of engravings after the original passed to Byron’s daughter, Ada, in 1835.

Byron by Thomas Phillips, oil on canvas, 1813 [NPG 142]

My trimmed sheet credits no artist nor printmaker, and is undated. A mezzotint of c. 1840 by Georg Zobel after painter, draughtsman and lithographer William Drummond (fl. 1800-1850) depicts the same scene, with minor compositional differences and differences of detail.

I find the portrayal of the sitters in my print rather revealing, and helpful when it comes to putting a date on it.  Not intended for fine art lovers, this is barely a portrait at all, in the truest sense of the word. The black hair, curly and slightly wild, the big collar, are really mere signifiers: these were the characteristics the contemporary viewer expected to see in a Romantic poet, especially in Byron. Segati is allowed almost zero personality. The full, round faces are imbued with an early expression of the sentimentality that would come to characterize much Victorian popular art. Both protagonists are almost infantilized. Tenderness and affection are emphasized, and any hint of sexual desire relegated. This is a watered-down, family-friendly Byron.

This lithograph, published I would guess in the first few years of Victoria’s reign, seems to me to reflect the ambivalence towards the legacy of this reckless libertine in the face of a new morality.  Heroes of the Victorian age were Christian and of upright character, and ultimately they were team players.  For many years Byron’s individuality and uncompromising commitment to personal liberty sat rather uncomfortably with the official culture. That in part explains why it took until 1969 for the Byron memorial to be dedicated in Westminster Abbey.

My print is for sale as part of my Stock Showcase here:  Byron and Marianna

“See you at Chelsea”

I will be exhibiting for the first time at The Chelsea Antiquarian Book Fair, held on November 6th – 7th at the stunning Chelsea Old Town Hall in the King’s Road, London SW3 5EE.

The Chelsea fair has become a fixture in the calendar for book and print collectors and dealers from Britain, Europe and America. Warmer than Boston, more intimate than York, less formal than Paris – Chelsea has it all. Customers return year after year to this lively and friendly event.

‘See you at Chelsea’ has become a phrase familiar to everyone in the British rare book and works on paper trade.

I look forward to meeting old friends, established clients and especially new collectors.  With Christmas around the corner, are you looking for an unusual and memorable present? Or is there a subject, artist, genre or period of history that especially attracts you?  Perhaps you are thinking of collecting books or prints but are unsure of where to start, what to look for, who to approach or what on earth I mean by half calf gilt, aquatint, or slightly foxed…

If so, come and talk to me on the Stage at the back of the Main Hall (Stand 87, you can’t miss it!).

Whether you are in the business, a collector or simply curious about rare, antiquarian and collectable books, prints, maps and ephemera, then the Chelsea Antiquarian Book Fair is not to be missed.

The Fair is Open on Friday 6th November 2pm to 7pm and Saturday 7th November 11am to 5pm.

To Find out More:  http://www.chelseabookfair.com/

For Free Tickets please click this link:  http://www.chelseabookfair.com/register-for-tickets/9e2ec72ab6aeb74beab8efce48491cbb

For a Preview of some of the Stock I will be bringing to Chelsea:  https://jenningsprints-public.sharepoint.com/SiteAssets/Bristol%20BF.pdf

People, Prints and Progress – Or, Why are Prints Important?

Though relatively scant scholarly attention has been paid to the subject, I would go so far as to suggest that the printed image is at least as important as the printed word to the progress of Western civilisation. The major scientific and technological advances of the post-Medieval world would surely have been impossible without what William M. Ivins called the “exactly repeatable pictorial statement”.

Read more of my article for the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (ABA) website.

Link: http://www.aba.org.uk/Book-Collecting-Details.aspx?bcid=102

Fake or Fortune?

Last week I gave a talk at Colet Court, the preparatory school of St Paul’s.

I encouraged the boys to take a closer look at the pictures, maps, family scrap albums and illustrated books in their homes.  Most people have got an old print somewhere, perhaps gathering dust in the attic, even if they don’t know it.

I gave the schoolboys some pointers to help identify a genuine antique print, and reproduce them here in the hope that you too, dear reader, might unearth a hidden gem.

Let me know if you come up with any interesting finds. Email a pic here: jasper@jenningsprints.com

Happy hunting!

• Signatures:  for an artist to sign a print was rare until the late 19th century, and they also often signed reproductions. Instead, look for Latin terms engraved or etched under the image to denote artist, draughtsman, printmaker, sometimes printer and publisher – in Britain this served as copyright.

• Plate mark:  can you see an indented line around the outer edge of the image?

• Paper:  does it look bright and new or has it dulled or browned with age? Can you see any rust-coloured spots (known as ‘foxing’)?
  Hold the paper close to a light: can you see the pattern of vertical lines (‘wire-marks’) crossed by horizontal ‘chain-lines’ from the wires in the papermaker’s tray.  This is evidence of ‘laid paper’, widely used in the 18th century before ‘wove’ papers took over, which have no such marks visible. European papers can be approximately dated from their appearance and feel, and often provide evidence of a modern reprint or facsimile.

• The Image:  look closely with a magnifying glass: is it made up of a mesh of tiny dots? If so it may be a photomechanical reproduction.

• Other Clues:  if the print is framed, is it an old frame and mount, perhaps with the original framer’s or printseller’s label on the backboard?

Support the Fight against Illiteracy on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April

I will be “popping up” at Middle Temple Library in London on 23rd April (12.00 – 14.00) as part of a worldwide series of Pop-Up book fairs endorsed by UNESCO.

On this day in 1616 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega died. Centuries later this day marked the date of birth or death of prominent authors like Vladimir Nabokov, Haldor Laxness, Maurice Druon and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

And each year, on 23rd April, UNESCO celebrates World Book and Copyright Day with a series of worldwide events. Now, for the first time, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) will be a part of it!

 A WORLD FIRST – ACROSS THE WORLD

From Sydney to Tokyo to Cape Town, from Moscow, London and all the major European capitals to New York, Washington, Chicago and the Pacific Northwest of the United States ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs, organized by the world’s expert antiquarian booksellers, will appear on 23rd April, 2015.

WHERE?  In a woolshed in the Australian bush, at central stations, on boats, in museums, libraries, streets, private clubs, cocktail clubs, brew pubs, on roof terraces, at the top of skyscrapers. On UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day ILAB booksellers will bring rare books to the people in the most unexpected places!

HOW? Like a Mexican wave starting the day in Australia and, as the sun goes down, finishing the day in the United States, scores of rare book dealers will be organizing Pop Up Fairs – a mixture between bookish flash mob and speed dating for book lovers, lasting only a few hours at unusual, but busy locations where passers-by will discover a stunning selection of rare books, prints, manuscripts and ephemera to promote the trade of old and rare books and to support the UNESCO literacy projects in Africa.

Official websites www.ilab.org and www.unesco.org/new/en/wbcd.

Please contact Sally Burdon (Sally@AsiaBookroom.com) or Barbara van Benthem (editor@ilab.org), if you need any further information.

The photographer’s art

For this post I’d like to focus on one area which I am conscious I have rather neglected in the past: the photograph. A visit to The London Photograph Fair at The Holiday Inn, Bloomsbury last Sunday prompted reflection on my somewhat ambiguous relationship with this all-conquering medium.

People often ask me if I deal in photographs alongside my traditional prints. I never have (though I do own the odd real photographic post card). It’s a fair enough question; major collections often group prints and photographs together into image archives, and they are often both sold by the same dealerships and auctioneers.

In the final analysis, developing a photograph is just another form of printmaking.

The majority of my stock pre-dates the advent of photographic processes in the 1840s and 1850s. The photograph market is frankly not one I understand and I am happy to leave it to the specialists.

I suppose if I’m honest I’ve always slightly looked down my nose at photographs. I tend to extoll the virtues of the labour-intensive craftsmanship that produced the hand-tooled engraving, and the dashing artistry of the master draughtsman who drew his design upon the limestone block. At a distance the photographer’s art seemed to me all too simply, and automatically, produced.

Over recent years I have come to a greater appreciation of the skill of the photographer, particularly during photography’s infancy. Apart from the technical accomplishment and compositional ability evident in the sepia images I saw last week, there is an undeniable art to capturing a moment in time which encapsulates the spirit of an age – and resonates down the decades to the modern viewer.

The impact of photography on printmaking, and consequently on the art world more generally – and indeed upon society at large – was and remains incalculably huge. The photographic image continues to inform our view of the world more than any other visual medium.

Within a relatively few short years, the advent of commercial photography supplanted the reproductive, illustrative ‘report’ function of the hand-tooled print, which for centuries had been the only means of mass visual communication. Printmakers were forced to seek other ways to make their craft relevant in this new photographic age – and the ramifications of that are impacting upon artists to this day.